Raquel Z Rivera & Ojos de Sofia, NALAC Fund for the Arts Grantee

The deadline for these additional NALAC Fund for the Arts grants is Thursday, October 25, 2018

For Immediate Release (SAN ANTONIO, September 19, 2018) – The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) announces two additions to the NALAC Fund for the Arts (NFA) grant portfolio: the NFA Puerto Rico Artist Grant and NALAC Pod Grant.

Puerto Rico

The NFA Puerto Rico Artist Grant will support the production of work that will be presented and created by artists residing in Puerto Rico. NALAC anticipates awarding ten Puerto Rico Artist Grants of $2,500 for projects taking place in 2019.

This grant opportunity responds to the continuing need for direct support of artists and cultural workers operating in the natural, urban and political environments shaped by Hurricane Maria and federal austerity plans on the island. NALAC aims to contribute to the restoration and sustainability of artistic and cultural practices in Puerto Rico.

Through a partnership with Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater at least two grant awards will be awarded in the performing arts. The partnership follows the theater’s support campaign, Hurricane María Relief Drive for Artists in Puerto Rico, which provided over 200 artists with emergency micro-grants of $500.

"We are proud to partner with NALAC and applaud its initiative to award grants directly to artists in Puerto Rico," said Rosalba Rolón, Artistic Director of Pregones/PRTT. "Following on the heels of our Relief Drive, this new partnership illustrates our company's longstanding commitment to continue highlighting, supporting, and collaborating with the island's creative community."

Interested applicants will self-identify their community and have the autonomy to foster community, refine leadership skills, engage in critical or aesthetic dialogue, amplify visibility, or encourage political advocacy. A pod might be organized around geographic lines (Latinx artists in Boise or Sacramento, for example); by discipline, such as a group of writers creating zines or dancemakers experimenting in movement; or across any number of solidarities and affiliations.

“We believe that if NALAC intentionally activates existing NALAC regional networks in different stages of development, the networks will amplify NALAC’s effort in empowering the Latinx field, broadening communications and building support for Latinx arts and culture,” said Adriana Gallego, NALAC COO. “NALAC’s greatest resource is the human relationships and inter-networking that has evolved with careful and intentional nourishment.”

Please note the NFA Puerto Rico Artist Grant and NALAC Pod Grant opportunities support individual artists and cultural workers and are not open to organizations.

ABOUT NALAC

The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) is the nation's premier nonprofit organization exclusively dedicated to the promotion, advancement, development, and cultivation of the Latino arts field.